USDA, Food Safety and Inspection Service, ASD, PCS, Room 2161 South Building, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20250-3700

66 -- VITEK-60/CC SYSTEM SOL FSIS-10-W-97 DUE 020597 POC Contact Point, Tawana Nathan, (202) 720-9891 The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service intends to award a contract to Biomerieux Vitek, Inc. for one Vitek-60/CC System; and V1306- Vitek GNI test cards, 20 test/box (10 boxes). FSIS intends to negotiate on a sole-source basic in accordance with 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1). The system is required for rapid biochemical confirmation of SALMONELLA SPP. at the Eastern Laboratory in Athens, GA, to fulfill the requirements of the Pathogen Reduction; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point Systems Final Rule. Only fully developed, commercially available systems shall be considered. All interested concerns must identify their interest in writing and fully document their capability to meet the agency's requirements by forwarding a detailed response within 10 days of publication of this notice. All responses must be in writing and may be faxed to 202-690-1814. All proposals from responsible sources will be considered by the Agency. If no affirmative written responses are received within 10 days of publication of this notice to determine that a comparable sources is available, or is more advantageous to the Government, negotiations will take place with Biomerieux Vitek, Inc. (0022)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0298 19970127\66-0001.SOL)